Saturday, June 21, 2014

The Silent Protagonist's Top 5 of E3 2014

E3 is always a magical time of year. It's no secret. Seeing all the big game companies come together and make their big announcements is always exciting, and watching the internet's reactions to said announcements is a great time, even when the conferences turn out to be complete flops. E3 2014 had some pretty big shoes to fill after last years magical show, but I feel like this year didn't fail to disappoint. For the most part. As such, here's my top 5 games that were shown this year, as well as a few honorable mentions.

5. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Spoiler Alert: I'm a big fan of Professor Layton and Ace Attorney. Both are two different types of puzzle games sporting fantastic stories and fun gameplay. So it should come as no surprise that I've been following this game since its announcement back in 2010. And yes, it is currently the year 2014. Why it took so long to localize this game after its 2012 release in Japan is beyond me, but it's coming out now so I guess that's all that really matters. The story looks interesting, the gameplay takes the best parts of the Layton and Ace Attorney, and the soundtrack sounds fantastic. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney comes out on August 29, 2014 on the Nintendo 3DS, and should be yet another addition to your 3DS library assuming you're a fan of Layton and Phoenix.

4. PlayStation TV
Not a game, but rather a new microconsole from Sony. The PlayStation TV is actually a non-portable version of the PlayStation Vita, meaning that some games that run on the Vita won't play on the TV, due to the lack of features in the DualShock controller (for example, games like Final Fantasy X-X2 HD will work, while games like Tearaway will not.). Besides being able to play Vita games, the PlayStation TV will allow users to stream music, TV, and film content. It also has access to the PlayStation Network, allowing for the download of PS1 and PSP titles, as well as future streaming of PS3 titles. And the best part is that it only costs $99, making it a great substitute to the Vita if you've been looking to get one. No concrete release date has been announced, but a release for North America, Europe, and Australia is planned for Q3 of 2014.


3. Splatoon
Plot twist, the most creative shooter and in my opinion the best shooter shown this year was the colorful kiddy one created by Nintendo. Crazy I know. In Splatoon, you take control of Inklings as you try to cover the stage in ink, while defeating the opposing team. Your goal is to have the most territory covered in your color by the end of the three minute match. Inklings are able to change between humans and squids, with humans being able to shoot ink, and squids being able to speed across the stage in ink of their own color. Shooting ink on walls and through grates will allow those in squid form to travel to different areas, and players can instantly launch to any of the players on their team by using the Gamepad. It makes for an interesting team-based shooter that definitely stands out among the military brown shooters that seem to be a dime a dozen nowadays. Splatoon comes out in the first quarter of 2015 on the Nintendo Wii U.

2. No Man's Sky

One of the biggest surprises of Sony's conference, No Man's Sky, developed by Hello Games. No Man's Sky promises a massive universe to explore, with various planets to traverse, each with their own wildlife and dangers. The pacing of the game is up to the player, where you can either take time to see every corner of this universe, charting every single solar system, planet, and each planets wildlife, or set your course for the center of the universe. The game looks gorgeous and amazing to play, making it the best thing shown at Sony's press conference, and one of the best things shown at E3. No Man's Sky has no current release date, and will be available for the PlayStation 4, though availability for other systems is still open.


1. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

Big surprise here. A new Smash Bros game will always be a big deal, E3 or not. But this year, Super Smash Brothers absolutely won as being one of the biggest games shown at Nintendo's event, as well as being one of the most hyped games of E3, October 3rd release date or not. Part of this was just the coverage of it. On top of the invitational tournament that provided our first extensive look of gameplay for the Wii U version, there was the Smash Fest at Best Buys all over the country that let nerds who waited in line for hours to try out the Wii U version with their own two hands. Which I did. Maybe I'm a bit biased, and maybe me being able to try the game for myself influenced this, but there's no doubt in my mind that these two games are what I'm looking forward to most this year. The 3DS version will be out on October 3rd, with the Wii U following up this holiday season.

Honorable Mentions:

Corpse Party (PC)

I'm a really big fan of Corpse Party. It's one of the three things that I won't stop pestering people to experience. So hey! XSEED Games is localizing the PC version of the first game and releasing it in the west. Now my friends have no excuse not to play it! Thanks XSEED! In all seriousness, Corpse Party is a fantastic horror game that not enough people played due to the system it was on. But now you have a chance to experience it. And hey, even if you've already played the PSP version, this version contains new endings and even another chapter, making it worth another buy. And look at it this way. If this sells well, and thanks to the signal boost from "You Know Who", this might spark enough interest for a localization for Blood Drive. Think about it.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment + Infinity Moment (Vita)

Sword Art Online was a great anime. Or rather, the first 14 episodes were great, until everything went downhill with the second half, but that's for another time. So what better way to recover from that second half then to completely ignore it and do something new! As an action RPG, it's your goal to explore Floor 76 and above of the floating castle Aincrad and escape from the death game SAO. You will need prior knowledge of Sword Art Online in order to enjoy the story of Hollow Fragment, but the game looks fun enough to play. Plus it comes with the PSP game Infinity Moment, so that's nice. Now if we can just get something like this for the Madoka Magica games...

Sonic Boom (Wii U)

BLUE ARMS AHHHHHH. All joking aside, the more I see of Sonic Boom, the more I like it. The writing especially is good, which will work well both for the game and cartoon, and though I'm still on the fence with the gameplay, I'm leaning more towards liking it other than hating it. I will say I'm looking forward to the Wii U version more, but I'll still play the 3DS version when it comes out. I'm a big Sonic fan, and I can say that I like the look of Sonic Boom. Now can we stop debating over whether or not this game will break the "Sonic Cycle"? Because I'm pretty sure my copies of Colors and Generations exist and weren't just a crazy dream.

The Silent Protagonist had a great E3, and has high hopes for next year!

All images are the properties of their original owners. The various channels should be a hint to that.











































0. Hatoful Boyfriend (PC)
Game of the year every year.

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